Lives cut short

Lives Cut Short: Seeking Refuge During the Holocaust: The Story of Ruth Maier

The exhibition consists of 13 panels measuring 72 x 154 cm. The texts on the panels are in Czech, German, and Norwegian. The panels are lightweight, made of Kapa boards in aluminum frames that protect the edges. The panels are designed to be hung on walls or stands. The number of panels can be reduced to suit your space, or you can share only the print data. If you are interested in borrowing the exhibition, please contact us at tana.klementova@maierfamily.eu.

The exhibition, prepared by the Vienna-based Dokumentationsarchiv des österreichischen Widerstandes in cooperation with the Norwegian Senter for studier av Holocaust og livssynsminoriteter, highlights the ways in which young people and their families responded to the growing anti-Jewish policies of the Nazis and their supporters. It shows how anti-Semitism deprived people of their civil rights and made them strangers in their own country. This painful process is documented in the story of Ruth Maier, whose life was cut short by anti-Semitism and Nazi extermination policies. Excerpts from Ruth's diary testify to the courage and determination with which her mother, like many other Jewish parents in the same situation, had to make desperate decisions in an effort to save the lives of her own children.
The exhibition recalls the kindness Ruth encountered in Norway during her journey as a refugee, but also the bitter betrayal of her trust and hope. Ruth Maier's diary, carefully preserved by her close friend, testifies to the creative potential that was destroyed by the Nazis as well as their collaborators and supporters. The example of one human destiny also serves to highlight the incalculable loss of creative talent that the murder of six million Holocaust victims represented for the whole world. In 2014, Ruth Maier's diary was included in UNESCO's program for the protection and preservation of world cultural heritage preserved in documents, Memory of the World.

Panel previews: Pretnute_zivoty_2